I Thought We Were Infinite Continued [BlackTan]

十一

[6 years ago]

"Look who's brave coming in here late for the nth time." A certain black-haired man sneered at Taesung who wordlessly took her seat beside him. Her head was starting to throb and her grip on her Gucci handbag was getting tighter, her knuckles turning white. Some of the others cast him obvious glares but her husband kept a stoic look while he took his place opposite hers. She recalls the dripping water from the faucet, the bottle of pills and...

"Lee Soo Man, if you have any quarrel with me, don't drag my wife into it." He said nonchalantly, not even sparing his wife a glance. "The meeting has been delayed more than enough."

The man was not one to back down, especially if he thought he was the wronged party. He leaned back on his chair and focused on him, more than ready to spark a fight.

"And whose fault is that, Jiwon?"

Taesung was the only one who flinched when they heard someone slam their fist on the table, silence immediately following the action. The woman in white smiled warmly at them all, hiding her reddening palm on her lap before opening her mouth to speak.

"Thank you, everyone. As we all know, we're all..." she drawled out the words ever so slightly to accentuate their importance. "On edge with the events unfolding so we will make this very brief. Starting with the reports," She locked eyes with the man across her. "Park Jinyoung?"

The man smiled though there was no emotion in his eyes as he looked at all the faces in the room. It dawned on to Mrs. Kim that it felt like she was in a den of wolves, ready to tear each other apart for their own benefit. The air was stuffy with forced civility and the smallest of provocations would ensue in a bloody confrontation. Such was the way of things ever since she married Jiwon and she couldn't do anything but accept it.

"My recruits are settling well in different parts abroad and are ready to take back Bangkok from the recent attack." JYP shifted a bit. "My second-in-command, Jung Wook, will be leading once we're given the signal."

Taesung's eyes flickered to Uen Ju who was watching with interest and drumming her fingers. She's never been so trusting of the other woman, especially after...

A lump grows in her throat and she feels like she's about to gag. She's not going to think about that.

The mother of four presses a finger to her temple, massaging it and trying hard to not focus on everyone else and what they were saying. She heard numbers, casualties, names, but all of those would be forgotten in a little while. The League didn't care for that; didn't care if one of their own would be listed in the deceased list. They cared about going higher. They cared about winning.

And they hid all that under the pretense of caring about the good of everyone else.

It was sick.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Kim?" That traitorous bitch thought she could play the sweet and caring friend?

"Let her out." Soo Man advised quietly, pushing back Taesung's chair and quickly averting his eyes. When he noticed that everyone was staring at her, he barked. "What are you waiting for? On with the meeting!"

It was getting hard to breathe, she realized and she could only glance up to meet Jiwon's eyes.

Once, whenever there was a time that any sign of exhaustion or illness, he would be by her side. Once, he'd immediately shield her away from all this.

But now his gaze is cold and unsympathetic, almost mocking her as she gracelessly got up from her seat.

She wants to apologize but what else could she say in front of all these people who would take advantage of any opportunity? Could anything make up for all the wrongs they did?

Kim Taesung was incredibly disgusted with herself at that moment, wondering how she could go back to her children and lie to their faces about where she's been and what she's done and how she damned the only people she loves to this life.

Humans make mistakes, but demons were the ones who chose this life.